


The Guest

by ZralasDarkstar



Series: Princess Prom [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, F/M, Original Character(s), Princess Prom (She-Ra)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-10-19 08:41:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17597993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZralasDarkstar/pseuds/ZralasDarkstar
Summary: Adora, Glimmer, and Bow attend the Princess Prom hosted by Princess Frosta of the Kingdom of Snows. Early on in the night shortly after the Best Friends SquadTM arrives, a guest of not one but two princesses, Princess Netossa and Princess Spinnerella shows up. According to the ancient laws their guest is titled the ‘Conjoined Guest’ and is granted the privilege of asking anyone to a dance, however they can still refuse. There hasn’t been a Conjoined Guest since the days of King Micah, and not much is known about this person brought to Princess Prom. According to the ancient laws, they are allowed the first dance of the prom with whoever they wish. It is also rumored that a kiss from a conjoined guest grants a blessing to their kingdom for a decade. Although, it seems the guest is more interested in getting to know the princesses at the ball and can’t help but notice some tension between several of the attendees.





	1. Adora

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [She-Ra's First Kiss(es)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16911720) by [silverwriter01](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverwriter01/pseuds/silverwriter01). 



> So I've had this idea in my head ever since the show re-launched on Netflix back in November '18. I took inspiration from several other stories, most notably being 'She-Ra's First Kiss(es)' by silverwriter01. I am a huge Catradora shipper, and I sometimes felt like Adora was not as smart as she could've been for the sake of plot so I created Lyn (the Guest) to help Adora along the way. It starts after introductions to the princesses have been made and Adora had just tried (and failed) to recruit Frosta to the Princess Alliance. The story is still mainly canon compliant in that major events still happen, but Adora isn't as much of a useless lesbian. This is also my first ever fanfic so any feedback is welcome, and don't worry I won't get offended and refuse to update.

**Adora POV**

Adora felt positively embarrassed. She had just introduced herself to princess Frosta in an attempt to recruit her into the Princess Alliance but ultimately failed to do so. Why couldn't Frosta see that the Horde was going to eventually, possibly, one day, maybe threaten her kingdom and joining the Princess Alliance was her only hope of defeating them?  Currently she was stuffing her face with tiny food, quite eloquently if she said so herself, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She whirls around, her red dress spinning to catch up with her, and is surprised to find an unknown woman standing before her. The mysterious girl has narrow orange eyes and long, wavy, fine, charcoal-colored hair worn in an uncomplicated style. She has an hourglass build and wears a mystical, black and dark blue outfit that looks like a fusion of a sorceress’s robes and a ballgown. She has a meter-long scepter, with a small orb the size of a golf ball at the top. Adora thought it might be the light playing tricks on her, but she could've sworn she saw the color of the orb change color. The girl before her was quite attractive Adora had to admit, but she didn't recognize her at all. She had studied the guest list quite extensively, knowing everything from princess Netossa's pet peeve of people not knowing her powers to the complicated relationships between all the princesses; but this girl standing before her was a complete mystery. 

 _She must be someone's guest,_ thought Adora,  _that's the only explanation why she's here and why she wasn't part of the invitation guest list that I studied._

A modulated voice shook her out of her thoughts. "You know, you're recruiting her all wrong."

She almost choked on the tiny food as the bold sentence caught her off guard. She coughed to clear her throat and swallowed the last bit of unchewed food before catching her breath and looking up at the mysterious girl again. 

"Wh-what are you talking about? Recruiting for what? I'm just here for the Ball, ha ha." Adora tried to play it down, she couldn't have people guessing she had other agendas for attending the All-Princess Ball; that wouldn't reflect too kindly on her or on the Rebellion itself. "Princess Frosta and I were just discussing um-" Adora quickly looked around and settled on the platters of miniature food, "the proper placement of the food! It is very important to us that the snow peas and the cookies don't touch each other." She flashed a big smile to the girl in an attempt to show her sincerity. The girl's bright orange eyes bored into her as she simply stood there looking between the platter and Adora. 

After what felt like an eternity, the girl finally spoke again except this time she had a small, knowing smile on her face. "Suuuuuure,"  _Okay that was drawn out even longer than necessary, even if you saw through it. And why does her demeanor make me think of Catra?_  thought Adora, "and I'm sure it had nothing to do with the Horde or the Rebellion and the Princess Alliance at all." She winked and slightly turned her head upwards in a way that Adora recognized as someone seeing through her lie.

"Ugh, fine I was trying to get Princess Frosta and the Kingdom of Snows to join the Rebellion, but it's her best choice, by joining the Princess Alliance she gains new allies, a support from the Queen, and reinforcements should the Horde attack her kingdom." Adora said resolutely, crossing her arms unconsciously in the process.  _Who is this girl?_ Adora thought.  _She must be close to someone in the Rebellion if she knows about recruiting Princess Frosta, or maybe..._ a thought crossed Adora's mind as she remembered back to earlier in the evening. Princess Frosta made a spectacle about how this All-Princess Ball was different than others for quite some time because there was a special guest or something in attendance. She vaguely remembered the Ancient Laws being mentioned and something about blessings? "But I'm just looking out for Frosta's best interests and the well-being of the Kingdom of Snows, and I know they would benefit greatly by joining the rebellion."

The girl started laughing, which both confused and irritated Adora; was she mocking her?  _Why does this feel like an encounter I would have on the battlefield with Catra?_

"I can help you."

Adora snapped her head up to look at the girl in the eyes.  _This stranger not only knows about the Princess Alliance, but wants to help me recruit Frosta to it?_ Adora contemplated this, but also was slightly suspicious. _Help me how?_

"Help me how?"

"I can help you get Princess Frosta to look at you as more than just a soldier," the girl said, "more than just an extension of Bright Moon. You fail to realize how you're coming across to Frosta."

Adora furrowed her brow in confusion and contempt. "Come across? I'm giving her the chance to join the Rebellion and give herself allies to defend against the Horde if they attacked!"

The girl's smile disappeared and her back straightened; "You essentially told Princess Frosta that her only chance of survival was to join the Rebellion." The girl's words struck hard against Adora, and she was about to protest but the girl continued. "The fact is the Kingdom of Snows doesn't  _have_ to join the Rebellion. They're strong, resilient, and they've survived on their own in neutrality for a long time."

Adora felt her composure starting to leave her as her irritation and anger began to slowly creep in.  _Who does this girl think she is?_ "What would you do then huh? How would you convince a child, an eleven and three-quarters year old to join the Princess Alliance? You seem to be very good at disregarding my tactics, so why don't you tell me what your tactics would be? Because from where I stand, we would have a much better chance at ending this war and defeating the Horde once and for all if Princess Frosta and the Kingdom of Snows officially joined the Rebellion!" She felt the malice and edge leave her body as soon as the words came out of her mouth. She was the She-Ra! She's not supposed to go off on random people, let alone someone she has no clue as to who they are or who they were with as a guest.  _Oh crap, if she's the guest of a princess then word will get around about how I treated her and then the princesses will talk and then word will get around that I was trying to recruit Frosta to the Princess Alliance and then they'll start to think poorly of me and then the Princess Alliance as a whole and by that connection the Rebellion and then soon nobody will want to resist the Horde and we'll all fall to-_

Adora was once again cut out of her thoughts by the words of the mysterious girl. "Well first off I wouldn't make it seem like Frosta joining the Rebellion was the only option. By saying that, it implies that the Kingdom of Snows only survived from the Horde for so long purely on luck and not on the wisdom and strategy of the leaders."

The girl was delving deep into the conversation now, Adora noticed based on the way her hands and the scepter in her hand were moving around as she talked. With each word and scenario, her hands seemed to take on their own persona and created a new expression as she talked. It reminded her of how Princess Entrapta's hair would move around when she would talk about technology or the First One's. 

"By you saying the only chance for her kingdom to survive is by joining the Princess Alliance may sound good to you, but to Princess Frosta what she hears is; 'you haven't been doing good enough as a ruler and only I can give you salvation'." The girl said and then crossed her arms as she looked at Adora.

Adora wasn't used to being looked at this way. Sure she's been looked at as untrustworthy by Queen Angella's court when she first arrived in Bright Moon, and she had plenty of displeased scowls from her trainers back in the Fright Zone, but she's never been looked at the way she is now by this girl. Like she's being  _selfish_. Like she's not thinking of others in her actions. Adora is about to retort against this girl's words but her tongue stops in her mouth as she thinks on them. She  _did_ make it seem like joining the Rebellion was the only course of action that Princess Frosta has to help her kingdom. 

The girl continued talking. "If you really want to get Frosta to join your Princess Alliance then you have to make it seem like her joining you is the better option, not the only option." Now Adora was focused solely on the girl in front of her.  _Just who is this girl?!_

"The main problem that you're having with trying to get the Kingdom of Snows on your side is that you're always talking about how they will help you and then in return you help them; with the whole deal of 'join the rebellion and then She-Ra will act as a night guard and help guard your kingdom every now and then'." The girl chuckled and rubbed the orb on her scepter before continuing. "You and the Rebellion need to be there for Princess Frosta and help her with what she and her kingdom needs first so that she will choose to join the Princess Alliance on her own, and that will be much more effective than you trying to convince her otherwise."

"So you would rather I, and the whole Rebellion, just roll over to Princess Frosta on the off-chance that she decides to join the Alliance?" Adora said, and she felt her lips start to curve downwards to a frown.

"No, not at all" the girl said waving her hands in a disarming motion, "I'm just saying that instead of forcing Frosta into a choice you simply be there for her and be on her side irregardless of the choice she makes to show your dedication to her. And seeing that dedication to her, she will be inclined to repay the favor by joining the Princess Alliance."

Adora was a little shell-shocked at the statement. Showing loyalty and dedication to someone else without an agreement or promise goes against what she was raised with in the Horde. In the Horde, you didn't do something unless you were forced to or it was the only chance for survival. 

"If I'm being honest," Adora said, "this isn't really my comfort zone. The way I was brought up was you do something because it meant you got to survive in some way." She shifted her feet a little uncomfortably. "But I can see what you mean about my approach to the Princess being wrong." This earned a smile and a nod from the strange girl. "I'll try to be more inclusive towards the Kingdom of Snows with my negotiations with the Princess from now on and how we can help her and her kingdom rather than her kingdom helping us."

This earned a huge grin from the girl, and she bowed signaling that she was ready to move on and mingle with other members of the Ball. She turned and began heading towards the dance floor where a bunch of the other Princesses began to hang out.

"Wait I didn't get your name," Adora said as the girl turned away "which kingdom are you from?" She turned her head back and gave Adora a big smile.

"My name is Lyn, and I'm a guest of Princesses Netossa and Spinnerella." Lyn looked past Adora to the entrance of the area and grinned. "Besides, I think there's a certain person you're wanting to talk to."

Adora tilted her head in confusion as she watched Lyn disappear into the crowd of people. She could've sworn she saw purple hair move in the direction of where Lyn was walking, but she shook it off. She turned her head to where Lyn was looking last before she left, and her breath caught in her throat. There standing arms linked with a beautiful scorpion-woman hybrid was Catra, dressed to the nines in a powerful suit.

"Fuck." Said Adora, and she didn't care who overheard her. It was the truth. 


	2. Entrapta

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Lyn and Adora had their conversation, the two parted ways. Adora headed towards the main entrance where Catra and Scorpia had just arrived. Meanwhile, Lyn left to go mingle with some other guests and seems to be stopped by a certain eccentric, purple-haired princess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I felt so nervous posting this story because it's my first ever fic, but I wanted to thank you all. Specifically I wanted to thank TanyOne, R_RK, CanaryCorp, and Lapincobra as well as the guests for leaving kudos and a double thanks to CanaryCorp and R_RK for leaving comments. I love you all and can't wait to keep writing for this fandom.

**Entrapta's POV**

Entrapta was definitely enjoying herself. Out of all the social interactions and functions that she had attended over the years being the Princess of Dryl, Princess Prom yielded the best results for her studies. Princess Entrapta loved to study relationships and how they worked, taking fascination in them more so than creating her own. It wasn’t for her lack of trying however, she simply was often misunderstood by her peers. But it didn’t matter to her; she found happiness in learning.

Princess Prom was the best social experiment that Entrapta could have wished for, diverse groups are thrown together and forced to mingle. It allowed her to observe the behavior of all the participants as they formed their cliques and gathered together while steering clear of others. She was so excited for the event that she even got herself a new audio recorder to catalogue the experiment.

_Fascinating!_ Entrapta thought, t _hese groups will definitely help further my understanding of social structures and their roles._ Her hair reached into her pocket and grabbed a bit of tiny food that she had stashed away. _And they have tiny food here! This can’t get any more perfect!_ Entrapta swallowed the small creation in one bite and suddenly a flash of something in the crowd of people around her caught her eyes. _What on Etheria was that? It can’t be a sword or mace or weapon because those were all checked at the entrance. And because my goggles are on, the automatic glare filtration I installed in them after that nasty incident with the bulldozer prevents any type of light abnormality to penetrate them._ She tried using her hair to get a higher vantage and see the source of the mysterious flash of light but unfortunately was unable to locate it. _Ohohohohohoho there’s no way I’m leaving here without finding out just what that light was!_ A huge grin exploded onto her face and using her hair, she climbed up a pillar until she reached a balcony on the next level overlooking the main floor where a majority of the participants of the Ball were.

Scanning the crowd in the direction she was just in Entrapta began to fervently look through the crowd of people, determined to find the origin of the light. _It couldn’t have been just a simple piece of jewelry,_ she thought, _maybe it’s a magical item? Are magical glares able to pierce my light glare filtration?_ _Questions for later._ She pulled out her recorder and quickly said “look into magical glares and lens filtration” so that she wouldn’t forget later. A light hit her goggles again and she snapped her head to the source so quickly she felt her neck crack slightly. It didn’t hurt, having an exorbitant amount of hair for all her life made her neck and shoulders remarkably strong. She focused in on the source of the light and was rather captivated, it was a gemstone around the size of a plum or maybe an apple and it was cemented on top of a rather ornate, ceremonial looking scepter. It was truly fascinating and surely it held some sort of significance if it was allowed through the security. _I MUST GET A CLOSER LOOK AT IT!_

Keeping her eyes on the staff she leapt down from the balcony, her hair cushioning her fall, and moved throughout the crowd until she came face to face with the owner. The girl before her had a stunned look on her face as her charcoal-colored hair flowed across her face and over her shoulders settling down just past her chest. _Huh, this girl has orange eyes. Quite the abnormality, much like that feline person with heterochromia._ Entrapta fully took in the stranger before her, eyeing the way her outfit’s style resembled that of a storm with the black color and dark blue patterns across the hem. And then her eyes wandered to her hand and that’s where the source of light came from.

The scepter was most curious to Entrapta, as she had never seen anything like it before. It was much too short to be an effective long-range weapon like a staff seeing as how the scepter was roughly around one meter in length. And there wasn’t a sharpened tip at the base of it, so it made no sense as a short-range weapon either. If anything, Entrapta figured, it would be a decent bludgeoning weapon like a club.

As a princess and member of the Princess Alliance, Entrapta was privy to all kinds of information regarding the princesses of Etheria and their respective runestones. However, this person before her was not a familiar face to her and she was not associated with any runestone she knew of, so she concluded that this person was not a princess. But only those who share a connection with an elemental runestone can create magic strong enough to go through her goggles. _I need more information about her!_

“Who are you? Are you a princess? What’s up with your scepter? How were you able to get it through the security? Can I have a sample of your blood? Can I look at your scepter?” Entrapta slightly leaned in more with each question she asked and by the end of her questioning, she was inches away from the woman’s face.

The woman seemed to be slightly overwhelmed, especially since Entrapta was so close that she was pretty sure the woman could smell the oil and metal on Entrapta. Surprisingly though Entrapta thought, the woman didn’t back away like people usually would. And while the silent standoff was occurring, Entrapta started to edge her hand towards the scepter in the woman’s hand. When Entrapta’s hand was close enough to the scepter, she grinned a bit wider and moved to land a hand on it. The woman saw this and for a split second before Entrapta placed her hand on the scepter, she had a worried look on her face. Before Entrapta could process this however, her hand made contact with the scepter. Once her hands made contact, she felt a shock. She tried to hold on for longer than a few seconds, but the longer she held onto the scepter the more intense the electric shock became. Finally, it became too much for her and Entrapta let go, but once she lifted her hands off the scepter, she felt a wind knock her back onto her behind.

“Wow! That’s some powerful magic!” Entrapta said as she looked towards the mysterious woman who still had the concerned look on her face. “Do you think I could study it for a while?”

“Whoa, whoa hold up.” The woman offered her a hand to help her up and Entrapta’s hair snaked its way across the hand and forearm to help herself up. “You want to what now?” The woman still looked concerned, but now she had a kind expression on her face now.

“I want to study your scepter!” Entrapta proclaimed as though it was the simplest thing in the world. “Why was it cleared through security? Why did I get shocked by touching it? Is that a runestone at the end? Can I get a blood sample?” The woman laughed, _Curious_ , Entrapta thought, _people usually are repulsed and claim I’m being crazy_.

“No, I’m sorry but I don’t think it’s safe for me to give you a blood sample.” Entrapta looked a little sad at this, so the woman continued. “But I’ll answer some questions if that’ll help satisfy your curiosity.”

Entrapta beamed, _Yes! A willing participant!_ “Excellent! Now let’s start with the basics; who are you and where are you from? Also, since you’re here does that mean you are a princess?”

The woman nodded, still smiling and answered: “my name is Lyn, and no I’m not a princess but I am a guest of princesses.”

_Princesses? As in more than one?_ Entrapta thought. _That’s highly unusual, and there hasn’t been a guest of more than one person since the late King Micah was the guest of Queen Angella of Bright Moon and C’yra of D’riluth II from Halfmoon._ “That’s highly irregular” Entrapta stated, “people don’t usually share a guest.”

Lyn nodded as though this were something that she was used to people asking. “I know, it’s highly uncommon for a couple to share a guest but honestly I’m happy I have two beautiful women to be with tonight. Especially two that I consider to be my best friends.”

_Ooooo interesting, I wonder which princesses she is a guest of._ _It must be an established couple seeing as how Lyn isn’t with one of them right now, and the only public princess couple is Princess Netossa and Princess Spinnerella._ Entrapta’s hair began moving around her as she became more and more excited. _That means she is their guest!_ “You’re the guest of Princesses Spinnerella and Netossa!”

Lyn nodded in confirmation and then motioned towards her scepter, “now I suppose you have questions you want to ask about _torden_?”

“Torden? Ooooo is that the name of your scepter? Why did you choose that name? Is it a family heirloom? Does it grant you special powers? What’s up with the gem at the end of it?” Entrapta began reaching for the scepter in anticipation and eagerness but Lyn caught her hand before she could grab it.

“Whoa there, I’d rather talk with you still conscious” Lyn laughed while letting go of Entrapta’s hand. “Yes, _torden_ is the name of my scepter and yes, it is a family heirloom. I’ve had this in my possession for a very long time, since I was a little girl in fact.” Lyn looked down towards the scepter, and Entrapta noticed that her eyes started to glaze over slightly as she continued to speak. “I can’t remember a time where I didn’t have _torden_ with me, even when I was alone, I always had it by my side. When I was by myself in the halls of the castle, I could always rely on _torden_ being there with me.” Lyn wiped a tear from her eye before she looked back at Entrapta with a somber smile. “I’m sorry, you probably don’t want to hear about my childhood, and I apologize for going into that when it wasn’t what you were asking me about.”

Now Entrapta was confused, normally people were telling her to apologize because of what she was talking about. Now, Lyn was apologizing to her because of something that she was talking about. Entrapta wasn’t used to being the one forgiving others, and she shifted uncomfortably on her feet. _What do people normally do in this situation? Oh! They forgive them._

“It’s alright Lyn, I forgive you.” Entrapta smiled, _yes, I handled this social interaction properly!_

“Thank you now as for my powers,” Lyn started to say, and Entrapta’s eyes grew wide and she pulled out her recorder, “as you’ve probably noticed when you put your hand on _torden_ , I control lightning and other storm related powers. Thanks to Spinny, I’ve gotten better control over winds.”

Entrapta was so grateful she had her recorder out, as it allowed her to continue the conversation without having to repeat herself. She assumed that ‘Spinny’ was a nickname for Princess Spinnerella so that eliminated that question from her busy mind.

“That still doesn’t explain how I was electrocuted by simply grabbing the scepter, I mean _torden_.” Entrapta said, her eyes glancing from Lyn to the scepter.

“Well that’s because-” Lyn was interrupted by a clear voice by the throne, “Revered Hostess you can’t let them in, they’re from the Horde!” Lyn and Entrapta turned to the source and realized it was Adora speaking to Princess Frosta. “I think I should go check that out,” Lyn said while bowing to Entrapta. “I’m happy to continue this conversation later.” Lyn then made her way to the throne while Entrapta looked up to see who Adora was talking about. She saw a scorpion-hybrid woman standing next to a feline-like character who was dressed very nicely in a fierce suit.

“Wow,” Entrapta said while staring at the cat-like person, “now that will make things interesting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I'm so overwhelmed that more than a hundred people have read this story. I am so grateful for each and every one of you and wish all the best to all of you! Also, in case you didn't know She-Ra and the Princesses of Power got renewed for a second season! Noelle Stevenson, the creator and producer of the show, announced on Twitter that the show officially got renewed for a second season to be released on April 26th. Below is the link to her official Twitter page with the tweet. https://twitter.com/Gingerhazing/status/1088502334819262464


	3. Catra

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra and Scorpia had just arrived at the All-Princess Ball, with the intention of dealing a crippling blow to the Rebellion and of course, Adora as well. What Catra had not expected, was a potential enemy or possibly ally?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for taking so long to update, uni had started up last week and I've been slammed with full time classes. But I have an idea for how I will finish this story, and then what I will do for the next story in continuation of this one. I love you all and wish you all the best. Also, Noelle Stevenson officially confirmed season 2 of She-Ra on her twitter.

**Catra’s POV**

Things could not be going better for Catra right now. She had arrived at the Kingdom of Snows as Scorpia’s guest, or as she was known as here Princess Scorpia, _Ugh,_ Catra thought, _honestly it doesn’t shock me that much that Scorpia is technically a princess. She’s much too kind and caring to not be, especially being raised in the Horde._ Although Catra would never admit it, she was grateful for Scorpia’s friendship. She provided the praise that Catra missed growing up and craved to hear now, but she would never tell her that.

Scorpia being a princess and being invited to the All-Princess Prom also had its advantages Catra realized, it provided her with intel on other princesses and the Kingdom of Snows. There was little to no knowledge on the icy kingdom in the Horde, but because the invitation for the so called “Princess Prom”, as Scorpia puts it, had all kinds of information regarding all the attending princesses and the Kingdom of Snows as a whole, Catra decided to accept it.

 _Are all princesses this moronic and naïve to give out all this vital information to just anyone?_ Catra smirked and scoffed when she first read the invitation and all the knowledge contained, _war for years and all the information we need to potentially win this war is practically given to us via the enemy_.

Catra and Scorpia had just bowed to the person sitting on the throne, who according to the invitation was the eleven-year-old princess Frosta, ruler of the Kingdom of Snows since her parents passed away several years ago. The two had finished their official introduction to the hostess and were just about to leave, when to their side Catra hears, “Revered Hostess you can’t let them in, they’re from the Horde!”

Catra smiled, _it’s almost too easy_ , she thought. “Revered Hostess Princess Scorpia was invited as per the rules of the ball.” Catra glanced at Adora and thought _time to make her go off._ “Rules which I personally have the utmost respect for.”

Adora was so predictable it was laughable. “You do not!!” Adora practically screamed back towards her. Catra just smirked and listened as Princess Frosta started to tear into Adora about how princesses get a guest and for centuries the All-Princess Ball was neutral ground for princesses and their guests. She definitely could tell that Adora was going to argue.

Thankfully Catra could tell that she had just made it onto Princess Frosta’s good side. From the information the Horde had on the Kingdom of Snows, Scorpia’s knowledge as a princess, and the invitation itself, she knew how to appease the hostess. Frosta was thrust into a leadership role at such an early age that must make her the subject of discrimination due to her youth. Something that Catra realized she could exploit and appeal to, so her plan was to be as diplomatic towards her as possible and give her the respect her title as ruler of the Kingdom of Snows deserves. As she had her small interactions with Frosta, she realized it wasn’t that hard for her to show respect to the Hostess at all. Catra realized she had a deep respect for the Kingdom of Snows; there’s a reason why the Horde had never been able to conquer it after all this time. If anything, she was surprised at exactly how much respect she held for the young princess.

 _She kind of reminds me of all the stress and shit Shadow Weaver put us through at that age_ , Catra thought, and then her eyes caught movement in her peripheral vision as though someone else was approaching them. _I thought no one was allowed through when the princesses and their guests were greeting the Revered Hostess?_ Turning her head, she saw a girl approaching the side of the throne. Catra had the list of princesses and their faces committed to memory and she didn’t recognize her. Glancing quickly to Scorpia the two had a quick, hushed conversation.

“Who is that?” Catra whisper shouted to Scorpia. “She’s not a princess.”

Scorpia looked just as confused as Catra. “Maybe they’re a guest of a princess?” She responded as she shrugged her shoulders.

“That’s gotta be it.” Catra concluded, “maybe we can find out which princess she’s a guest of and convince both of them to join the Horde.”

Catra looks back to the new girl and Adora expecting a confrontation of some sort to be taking place, only to discover that the entire area had fallen dead silent. Even Frosta was watching the new girl and Adora with interest. Catra looked and saw that bothe the new girl and Adora were locked in a stare with each other.

A new sense of tension permeated throughout the air, and Catra, thanks to her heightened senses as a human-animal hybrid, could _feel_ a change in the air pressure around them. Scorpia shifted uncomfortably next to her, so she knew it wasn’t her mind messing with her. It was only then that Catra noticed another peculiar thing, the girl had a weapon of sorts in her hand. At least, she thought it was one but upon looking and thinking about it, she decided it wasn’t a weapon. It was too short to be an effective staff for one, and there was no sharp edge or point on the entire thing. Just a small orb at the end which appeared to be a very dark, blood orange color. Catra heard, just barely, someone else relatively close to them but not close enough to hear their full sentence. She heard “….incredible!.... Changes color…..mood?”

Before Catra could focus her attention on the random voice she picked up on, she felt the pressure rise and then _pop!_ and go away in an instant. When she looked back, she saw that Adora and the mysterious girl weren’t in a deadlock stare with each other, but the girl had a small smile and Adora had sighed and lowered her head. Then Adora looked up towards Frosta and threw Catra for a loop.

“You’re right Revered Hostess, as long as they abide by the ancient rules of hospitality then I will treat them with the utmost respect and care they deserve as being a princess and her guest. I ask that if they should break those rules that I would be the one to deal out punishment.”

Catra was stunned. Not only was she not expecting that, but she realized that there was no way that Adora could’ve thought of that on her own. As she’s processing this, she notices that instead of responding to Adora, Frosta turns to the mysterious girl and asks for her opinion. “Do you think Adora will abide by those conditions and not act out before princess Scorpia and her guest potentially break the rules Conjoined Guest?”

 _Conjoined Guest?_ Catra thought, _that was nowhere in the invitation and there’s no mention of that anywhere in the Horde archives_.

“I do Revered Hostess,” the Conjoined Guest said, “and I will match honorary princess Adora’s offer.”

This perked up Catra’s ears and her tail swished nervously. _Does this mean she already sided with the Rebellion?_

“What do you mean Lyn?” Adora asked, just as confused as Catra. She didn’t realize it at first but thinking about it she could’ve sworn she heard Adora’s voice hitch, as though she was uncertain. As far as Catra could remember, even when she left the Horde to join her princess friends, Adora was never uncertain of anything.

“Yes, Conjoined Guest Lyn,” Princess Frosta said “I think you should clarify that statement.”

The girl, Catra now knows as Lyn tucks her charcoal hair behind one ear and says, “I mean that because Adora said she will punish Princess Scorpia and her guest if they break the ancient rules of hospitality, then I will do the same.”

Catra was stunned, but somehow, she was able to find her voice. “You mean that you would be on our side?”

Everyone’s eyes fell onto Lyn as her answer came forth.

“I will deal punishment to Adora if she violates the rules of ancient hospitality, the same way she offered to do so towards Catra."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading and perusing, feel free to leave a kudos and/or a comment. I do my best and reply to all the comments. Love you all and see you for the final chapter of this story next time!


	4. Mermista

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mermista has spent years with her on again, off again, boyfriend Sea Hawk. Now at the Princess Prom in search of the kelp bar she is deep in thought about her past with him and herself. What she didn't expect was how deep into her mind she ended up going, especially after meeting a certain orange eyed girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so this chapter ended up being so much longer than I anticipated because I started developing this backstory for Mermista and it kept delving deeper and deeper into her character and her relationship with Sea Hawk. Warnings for mentions of past character death and drinking.

**Mermista’s POV**

 

Mermista was mildly infuriated to say the least. She chose to invite Sea Hawk to the All-Princess Ball and ever since they arrived, he went out of his way to embarrass her, at least that’s how she saw it. Right now had been the worst of the night however. Mermista had seen a group of other princesses from the Princess Alliance so she went over to chat with them, but didn’t tell Sea Hawk she was visiting them. That was the worst thing she could’ve done in her mind looking back on it, as once he realized he wasn’t by her side, he began _singing_ trying to find her.

Sea Hawk had just royally embarrassed her in front of Adora or She-Ra or whatever her name was, and so she left in search of a kelp bar to save her from her woes. She thought about why she was here, and why she was here with _Sea Hawk_ of all people. He was her… boyfriend? Partner? She had no idea what he was to her at the moment. And the way Sea Hawk is, she flips between finding his actions endearing, annoying, and straight up embarrassing. They had a long, and, well complicated doesn’t even begin to describe their relationship, strained past.

The first time they met was years ago, back when Mermista’s father, King Mercia, was still the ruler of Salineas. She was in her tower, as was the norm for all princesses of Etheria at the time.

Thankfully they now had done away with that old tradition and now princesses don’t have to have a tower as their room. Mermista personally prefers her family’s sea cottage on a secluded beach, with only her knowing the location. She doesn’t trust Sea Hawk to keep his mouth shut about its whereabouts so anytime the two would go there, she would blindfold him and put him underneath whatever boat they were taking.

She was ten years old reading a book that was considerably much more advanced than for others her age. Mermista loved books, she was fascinated with the concept of being swept off her feet like so many of the characters she read. And that’s when she saw him. She looked outside of her tower and saw a boy down by the docks, helping two men unload the goods from their recent expedition. Mermista recognized them as the Falcon, a sea captain who was renowned around the ports as being the best navigator to have ever graced the waters of Etheria. The other man Mermista couldn’t identify but it was apparent that the two were the young boy’s fathers by the way they took turns picking him up and affectionately tousling his hair.

The young boy was around her age, ten give or take a year or two, and he had a deep purple hair color that Mermista was drawn to. As she watched him unloading with his parents, he tried to lift a box and was visibly struggling with it. He tried but to no avail, and took a break looking around as he did so. His glance managed to be in the direction of the tower, and Mermista watched his head as his eyes began going up the tower until finally they met hers. Upon seeing her, a giant smile nearly split his face in two and he proceeded to puff out his chest and slowly try to pick up the heavy box again. To Mermista’s surprise, he was able to slowly but surely lift the box halfway before he lost his grip, causing it to fall onto his foot.

He yelped, but Mermista couldn’t help the laughter that escaped her lips. He must’ve had excellent hearing or she laughed harder than she intended to because he heard it and beamed up at her. Picking up the box again he dropped it onto his other foot, squealing in pain once more. Mermista didn’t even try to hold back the uproarious laughter that made its way down from the tower to his ears, causing him to give one more huge grin and bowing dramatically towards her. Mermista felt a blush spread across her cheeks and returned back into her room when one of the boy’s fathers picked him up and got back onto their ship to take off. Before going out of each other’s sight, Mermista blew him a kiss to which the boy caught in his hand and placed over his heart. When the ship left the port, Mermista made her way down to the shipyard to look at the manifest eager to learn the boy’s name. On the log was written “Sea Hawk”, and Mermista giggled at the silliness of his name, but also enjoyed that it was unique just like him.

The next time she saw Sea Hawk had been five years later, and it was as though he was a completely different person. Mermista was fifteen and was going to be taking over for her father when he retired next year on her sixteenth birthday, so she was by his side for the majority of the time learning all the intricacies of ruling a kingdom and what Salineas needs from its ruler.

She was in the throne room by her father when Sea Hawk made his entrance. It was custom in Salineas for new sailors arriving to pay homage to the King or Queen, and make a case for why they should be allowed to do trade with them and settle upon a price for the limited port space that was available. Mermista and her father were currently going over the tariffs on traded goods between Salineas and Brightmoon when a guard announced that a first time sailor had arrived into the port. Mermista sighed, gone were the days of energy and excitement. Instead they were replaced by days of legal documents and dealing with stuck up sailors trying to either woo her hand or cry crocodile tears to have free access to their ports. _All right,_ Mermista thought as she groaned inwardly, _let’s hear this sap’s sob story or love confession about how he’s wanted me for years even though he’s never met me._

Mermista looked up at the entrance to the room and her heart beat loudly in her chest for the first time in nearly five years. Her breath caught in her throat; he was taller, his hair more wavy, and he had a moustache. That and the fact his moustache was ridiculously shin. _There’s no way that can be natural_ Mermista thought when she saw him, _he probably found some sort of salve or cream on his adventures_. Five years, and yet Mermista could still recognize this young man as that once clumsy boy who dropped a crate onto his toes on purpose, just so she would smile and laugh. There was no denying it. That was Sea Hawk; just grown up now.

Sea Hawk made his way to the throne where her father was sitting and bowed quite gracefully. “My king,” he said as he rose up from his bow, “I don’t have much money for a port. I have a ship, the _Dragon’s Daughter 2_ -”

“What happened to the first one?”

Sea Hawk stuttered and appeared dumbfounded as he glanced to Mermista, whose father was also looking at her curiously. Whenever a sailor arrived she would remain silent, save for a groan here and there when their stories would get too cliche or predictable. She could feel a blush coming onto her face, she was genuinely interested in what had happened to Sea Hawk’s first ship, and she knew her father was taking a particular interest in this young man as well.

She cleared her throat and asked again, “what happened to the first _Dragon’s Daughter_?”

Sea Hawk stared at her for a moment before standing up straight and explained how the first ship was lost to flames when he got into a scuffle with some ruffians in Seaworthy. “It was quite the battle, from all sides they came at me!” He used his whole body to tell the story, exaggerating the movements of himself and the people that were fighting him. Mermista leaned forward, eyes trained on him listening intently to the story. She was captured, and her father knew it. “Finally I realized that they wouldn’t let me go and wouldn’t stop until the _Dragon’s Daughter_ was all theirs. And I couldn’t let my precious ship fall into the hands of those heathens! They wouldn’t appreciate her! She’d be just another ship to them, but to me she was alive.”

“What happened next?” Mermista had her head in her hands and she was pretty sure her head was tilted as she listened to the story, but she was so encaptured that she didn’t care.

“Well my dear princess,” Mermista didn’t even flinch at being called his princess as she normally did with other sailors, “I realized that there was only one way that would keep the _Dragon’s Daughter_ out of their nefarious hands that she would be acceptable with. And that was to set her ablaze like the dragon on the seas that she was. So I set her on fire, and she sank peacefully to the depths of the majestic ocean along with those ruffians.”

Mermista gasped and took on her more sarcastic tone of voice that she’d been working on since her early teen years. “Wow, sounds like they were too much for you.” She giggled to herself, normally that would cause the sailors to get defensive or stutter in their story and this was a trick she learned early on when she was first courted by sailors. Everyone of the previous men that came in boasting of being outnumbered had the same story. They would miraculously find some weapon or have some sort of strategy that allowed them to defeat everyone else and let them get away scot free, like they were blessed by the goddess or something.

“Not at all princess,” Sea Hawk didn’t even hesitate, “I would rather keep my ship’s dignity than see her in the hands of those who couldn’t respect and appreciate her the way she deserved to be.” This surprised Mermista, he was still cocky about his abilities but he didn’t lie or exaggerate his story. His eyes shone nothing but truth and Mermista lost herself in them.

This whole time King Mercia had been watching the two banter back and forth, and was quite amused. His daughter was beautiful, and every sailor from the Fright Zone to Seaworthy knew it so he wasn’t surprised as over the years his daughter began warding off advances by being sarcastic or trying to emasculate those who tried to win her favor. This young man who he learned to be Sea Hawk, his daughter was interacting with him differently than that of the other sailors. Sure she was being sarcastic and teasing him like all the others, but there was an affection in her voice that only he knew having been her father and being with her all those years sailors tried to flirt with her.

The king turned his gaze back to Sea Hawk and cleared his throat to remind the young sailor that he was here to discuss trade and port fees, not to flirt with his daughter openly in his presence. It seemed to have the effect he wanted as Sea Hawk stopped talking and looked back to the king as though he had just appeared out of thin air. What he did not expect was Mermista by his side to jump as well, as if she also forgot his presence. _He’s the one,_ King Mercia thought, _but I can’t let him know that_.

“It seems that you have made an impression upon my daughter Sea Hawk,” the king said, “you shall have the royal port and trade with only Salineas as my chosen trader.”

Sea Hawk seemed to be flustered and taken aback by the king’s declaration. Clearly he was not expecting to just be handed the best port in all of Salineas used exclusively by the royal family. Mermista was also astonished, no one in her family had used that port since her father retired from sailing years ago when he took on the mantle of King.

“Your majesty, I’m flattered but why?” Sea Hawk sputtered.

“Yeah dad,” Mermista inquired, “that’s your personal port, and even though you don’t sail anymore it’s still a symbol of the royal family.” In order to avoid confusion upon arriving in the port, each ship was given a symbol to be painted onto the front hull of their ship which indicated to the portmaster watching them come in know which port space they would be docking.

“I have my reasons Mermista,” the king grunted, “Sea Hawk shall have the royal port and exclusively trade with Salineas. I don’t wish to have another issue where one of our sailors reportedly did trade deals with the Horde.”

Upon mention of the Horde, Sea Hawk’s face seemed to darken as though remembering a tragic memory. Mermista saw it and was about to ask him about it when he perked back up and said “I will gladly serve as an exclusive trader between the rest of Etheria and Salineas!” He bowed again very dramatically. He winked at Mermista and then turned to make his leave.

“Wait!” Mermista said before she could catch herself. She got up and approached him, causing him to take a step back. _Good_ , she thought, _I can intimidate him. But I probably shouldn’t do that right away or I might scare him off._ “There’s a place nearby called The Dolphin Social where they have a kelp bar and karaoke and stuff. It’s supposed to be pretty fun.”

Mermista tried to keep her voice level but couldn’t help that it hitched up at the end. Sea Hawk seemed to register what was happening and responded in kind. “I would be delighted to be your escort,” he dropped down to one knee and took her hand in his, “my princess.” He kissed her hand and Mermista could feel herself get lightheaded. She couldn’t show that however, so she made a scoffing noise and muttered something under her breath along the lines of, “you better be delighted you scruffy, handsome man.” Thankfully he didn’t seem to hear that, and Mermista thought that things might actually go well for them. Sea Hawk turned and left the room, and when he did Mermista felt something soft between her fingers in the hand that he held. She realized it was a sea-green kerchief of very fine quality, with the golden letters _S_ . _H_ . embroidered into the corner of it. She brought it up and smelled it, and the scent was a combination of the ocean and Sea Hawk. It was a truly unique smell and no matter how often she used it, it always had that same smell to it. _Maybe things will be just like in the books_.

Unfortunately when they got there it turned out that Sea Hawk had tried to impress her by challenging the doorman to a duel. She was definitely embarrassed by it but decided to give him another chance when she saw him the following year after her sixteenth birthday when she had ascended to the throne once her father retired. This time they went to a fair that was in Salineas thrown especially for her birthday and coronation. Things were going well, nice and calm throughout the whole day. She even let Sea Hawk hold her hand as they walked around. Then came the Tunnel of Love where everything went to shit. She was going to use the relaxing, calm ride to talk to Sea Hawk about her feelings, something that she had been building the courage for over the past year since he became their number one trader with the world. Right as they got to the part of the ride where it was the interim between the cheesy romantic stuff and the more relaxing love song portion of the ride, Sea Hawk had decidedly set their gondola _on fire_. After that, Mermista knew that she couldn’t talk about her feelings with him. He just wouldn’t listen.

But that did nothing to make those feelings go away.

Mermista had been so deep in thought regarding her past with Sea Hawk as she was walking around that she bumped into someone, causing the two of them to fall over. As she fell her hands went in front of her instinctively to prevent her fall, and one hand landed on the girl she ran into while the other fell onto a staff of some sort that the girl was holding. The instant she laid her hand onto it, she felt electricity arc up her arm.

Mermista was no stranger to electric shocks, having grown up with her aquatic powers she made friends with all sorts of sea creatures. Her favorite to play with as a child were two electric eels, and she would train by testing her resilience to electricity by having them shock her. Over the years she was able to build up such a strong resistance to it to the point where she didn’t even feel it anymore. So when the staff, or whatever this item was, shocked her so badly she _yelped_ , she was startled to say the least. She rubbed her arm and looked up to see the girl already up and offering her a hand up.

“I’m so sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was going and I must’ve slammed right into you,” the girl said. Mermista got a good look at the girl now as she took her hand to stand up properly. She had charcoal-colored hair with narrow orange eyes and a dark blue and black dress that looked like a cross between a sorceress’s robes and a ballgown. The staff was in the girl’s hand and seemed to definitely be radiating some sort of power. Having powers over the ocean Mermista was more connected to the elements, and the staff was emanating pressure like the eye of a hurricane.

“It’s fine,” Mermista said, “I wasn’t looking either so no worries.” That usually worked to dissuade anyone from reading deeper into her actions. Usually for fear that she would lash out at them verbally or ridicule them using an ad hominem if they tried asking how she was doing.

The girl tilted her head and regarded Mermista in a way that felt like she was being examined underneath a microscope. There was an uncomfortable amount of silence that passed between the two before the new girl commented on the recent tumble. “You were pretty deep in thought weren’t you?”

The straightforward question caught her off guard, as she normally had people tiptoe around her. Her sarcastic and laid back personality tended to make people be more afraid of her and worried about offending her. Even more so when she became ruler of Salineas, with Sea Hawk being the only exception by taking everything to the extreme with his proclamations of love and blissful ignorance to read a room. “Yeah, I was just thinking about somebody.” She didn’t know why, but Mermista felt comfortable around this girl.

The girl gave a soft laugh, “Sounds like relationship issues to me.”

Mermista was shocked but she only raised her eyebrows slightly, “What gave it away?” She felt a small grin grow on her face. _Maybe I can have an unbiased opinion about me and Sea Hawk_ . _Every one of my friends thinks we’re made for each other, and even my father had taken a liking to him when he met him for the first time._ Mermista’s face dropped a little at the thought. _Maybe I only like him because of the approval of the people I know_.

“Call it a girl’s intuition,” she smiled and gestured behind her, “Come on, let’s go to the kelp bar here and you can tell me all about it.” The girl grabbed Mermista’s hand and pulled her in deeper through the crowd, weaving around the people and mythical creatures before arriving at a countertop with shelves upon shelves of bottles behind the counter.

“How’d you know where the kelp bar was?” Mermista asked dumbfounded. This girl had led her through the crowd with pinpoint precision, as if she had a map in her head detailing where everything and everyone was. “Do you have some sort of power that allows you to know the layout of whatever room you’re in or something?”

The girl laughed. “No, but can you imagine how powerful that would be on a battlefield? To be able to take one step onto the field of battle, and know instantly where all the hiding places and vantage points would be?” Thankfully she had turned away from Mermista, who was trying to avoid an embarrassing blush from asking the question, and proceeded to talk to the bartender.

After speaking to them for a bit, the bartender went to mixing two cocktails and within seconds produced two glasses with neon blue liquid in them.

The stranger took one for herself and gave the other to Mermista who recognized the aroma and color of the drink as her favorite, an AMF.

After her mother passed away, her father had fallen into a phase where he tried to drown his sorrows with ale and strong drinks that were brought in by their traders. On more than one occasion Mermista would see her father passed out with a cup on the table, still with liquid in it. The first time she had tried it had been one week after her mother passed, when Mermista was eight years old. She had only taken a sip, and was grossed out by the taste of the strong ale. But over the years, she tried more and realized why her father had it; it numbed her and allowed her to forget the pain of losing her mother.

When Mermista reached the legal drinking age of 14 in Salineas, her father went dry and stopped drinking. It was difficult at first, but he was strong enough to leave it behind him for good. Mermista had embraced her newfound freedom but upon her first night going out to the Dolphin Social to celebrate, she realized that her habit of sneaking drinks from her father for years had built up a tolerance in her that made it much more difficult for her to get tipsy, unlike her friends who were losing their balance and stumbling by four drinks.

It wasn’t until she told her servant her trouble of not enjoying herself out with her friends that he suggested she try a new drink mixture that was introduced recently from a trader called an AMF, which was guaranteed to make one feel the spins that her friends were feeling. So the next time she went out with her friends, she ordered one and by the time she was halfway through it she could feel the warmth spreading through her body and feel herself loosening up for the first time in a while, and _feeling_ for the first time. Mermista realized over the next weeks that she did feel, but it felt diluted and almost like someone had taken her emotions and suppressed them, and the only time she could feel was when she had an AMF. Thankfully her father had spoken to her when she became of legal drinking age and warned her of the dangers of relying on drink for any reason, so she didn’t become addicted. Unfortunately, she still had trouble feeling and expressing herself without it.

So here she was, at one of the most regal social events she’s ever been to, with her ride (her plus one but she couldn’t tell people that) nowhere in sight, and with a strange girl that she intended to drink with and ask for advice about deep personal emotions and fears. She took the drink from her, friend? Mermista considered this for a moment before deciding internally that she was a friend. _She’s a princess or a guest and she helped bring me to the kelp bar to escape from Sea Hawk_ , her mind reasoned, _so she’s definitely earned being a friend_.

“Thanks,” Mermista said, “I’ve heard that the AMF is pretty good.” She tried to play it off like she had little experience with drinking, so as not to scare off the girl. Unfortunately that only caused the girl to grin slightly.

“I don’t recall saying what kind of drink it was.” She raised her glass to Mermista’s and the two clinked them before taking a sip of their respective drinks. Upon the liquid going down her throat Mermista immediately felt her guard go down. She could feel all the doubts and worries she had been keeping at bay come rushing into her mind. This was another reason why she didn’t drink often, because where other people would stop their thinking when they drank, Mermista would think too much and not be able to prevent herself from thinking. Now her mind was constantly barraged with all the questions and worries that she didn’t want to think about.

_Why are you still with Sea Hawk?_

_Your friends don’t like you, they’re intimidated by you._

_Even if he did love you, what makes you think you’re worthy of Sea Hawk’s unconditional love?_

Mermista set her drink down and pressed her hands to her temples, trying to stop the voices in her head from pounding against her skull with their incessant intrusions. She didn’t care about who saw her, she just wanted the voices to stop.

A pair of hands clasped over hers, soft but firm and warm. She felt a sense of calm fill through her, as though she was being destressed simply by the touch. Mermista looked up and saw the girl with her arms out over her temples with a concerned, but non-judgemental look on her face. She even smiled at Mermista, as though she knew what she was going through. Mermista cleared her throat and rose back to full height, wiping the tears that started at her eyes from her face. The girl kept her hand on her face though, but it was more tender and full of genuine concern. It felt more like a mother’s touch on their daughter when they scraped their knee.

“You’re confused,” the girl said, “but that’s ok. Being confused means you’re worried about something serious. And if you’re crying about it, that means it’s something serious. I know that I only just met you, but I want to be here for you so you can talk about whatever is bothering you.” She moved one hand to wipe away a tear, “you can talk to me. My name is Lyn, and I want to help you,” the girl smiled, “and don’t worry I won’t tell anyone that you broke your strong facade to a complete stranger.”

 _Oh this girl’s gonna fit in just fine_ , Mermista thought while blowing her nose very unceremoniously into the kerchief Sea Hawk gave her. It was so habitual that she didn’t even register bringing it out of her pocket to use. It caught the attention of Lyn, who gave a quick chin gesture and asked the silent question _what’s that_?

“Oh, it’s just a kerchief I’ve had for years,” Mermista wiped her nose clean, “it’s nothing special. My name’s Mermista by the way.” She tried to get the topic off of the kerchief but Lyn noticed the quality and made an audible gasp.

“That’s not ordinary cloth is it?” Lyn moved her hands to it and felt it between her fingers, carefully avoiding all the snot that was on it. “This...is _silk_.”

Now it was Mermista’s turn to gasp. Silk was practically unheard of in Etheria as the material was almost nonexistent. The only way to obtain it would be to brave the seas for months to reach a faraway land called Greece. In that land they had a legacy around kerchiefs and the meaning behind them. Supposedly, one would give a kerchief to someone they love as a symbol of their everlasting love, faith, and chastity for them. It was such a big deal all over Etheria that just seeing someone with a silk kerchief would drive away any potential suitors.

“No….fucking….way.” Mermista was holding the kerchief with more reverence now. Sea Hawk loved her. That’s why he kept sticking around. He wasn’t afraid to let everyone know who his heart belonged to. Now it made sense to her why nobody would try to court her after Sea Hawk gave her the kerchief years ago. “I just thought it was his way of showing he was a gentlemen like in those silly stories you’d read as a child,” she said wiping the last of her tears and clearing off her face, “who would’ve thought that goofball would risk his life just for something so trival?” Mermista gave a short laugh at the thought of a younger Sea Hawk, struggling on his boat when he made the trip all the way to Greece. _He really has improved drastially as a sailor since then_.

“It sounds like he really cares for you,” Lyn said, “and the fact you kept something that you thought was trivial for so many years sounds like you also care deeply for him.” They finished their drinks and set them on the countertop, and Lyn was about to ask Mermista more about her and Sea Hawk, however the bartender showed up before Lyn could get any words out.

“Will that be all for you and your friend Conjoined Guest?” The bartender said while taking away their empty glasses.

Lyn flinched at the statement and Mermista’s head cocked to the side. _Conjoined Guest? So she’s not a princess, noted, but what’s a Conjoined Guest?_

“Ah, we’re good thank you.” Lyn told the bartender who gave her a quick bow before leaving to serve others at the kelp bar. She looked back at Mermista and Lyn knew that she had questions to answer now. “Soooo, you’re probably wondering more about that whole ‘Conjoined Guest’ thing aren’t ya?”

Mermista just nodded.

“Well long story short I am not a princess, although some people think of me as one,” Lyn started, “and I am a guest of two princesses today. One guest, two princesses, hence the term ‘Conjoined Guest’.”

Mermista nodded again, wanting her to continue.

“As a Conjoined Guest, I have several privileges that others don’t. My word and opinion holds weight with the Revered Hostess for example, and in according with the Ancient Laws,” Lyn blushed sheepishly at this part, “I will be performing the first dance of the Ball and I can ask anyone to dance with me. It will be just the two of us dancing with everyone watching. They can say no obviously, but that’s not even the embarrassing part.”

Mermista was even more curious now, since Lyn had gone from a slight pink to full on crimson now. “What’s the embarrassing part?”

Lyn took a deep breath in an attempt to calm her nerves but to no avail. “After each dance I have with someone, they can ask for a kiss. According to the Ancient Laws of Hospitality, the kiss from a Conjoined Guest is said to bless the person and their kingdom for a decade.”

 _Oh. OH._ Mermista felt herself blush slightly as well. _No wonder she’s blushing so ferociously, but why am I blushing?_

“It’s not all bad, I still have some form of control,” Lyn explained, “because they can ask me for a kiss, I can choose who I dance with. So people can’t just come up to me demanding a kiss. I would only ask to dance with people I would be comfortable giving a kiss.”

“That’s good,” Mermista sighed feeling how Lyn must feel, “so do you like, have a list of people that you want to ask to dance or?” She felt the blush come back to her face.

Lyn could feel her blush redden as she gave Mermista a wink and a sultry grin. “Now wouldn’t you like to know?”

Mermista was not one to be flirted with, and she was many years out of practice since Sea Hawk gave her the kerchief. Hearing the change of tone in Lyn’s voice, coupled with the heat that flushed to her stomach and just below, and that damn wink, she could feel the blood rushing throughout her body.

“I-um-you,” Mermista stuttered not being one usually at a loss for words, “I mean-.”

Lyn giggled. “It’s ok, I’m just teasing you. But no I don’t have any lists or anything like the sort, but I go by how I feel around the person. Sort of feel the air around them and whether it would be a good idea for a dance.”

Mermista was about to ask Lyn what the air around the two of them was like when an announcement came through the entire chamber.

“Attention everyone,” the girls looked and saw the Revered Hostess ( _Frosta I think_ ), “normally we would have all the guests move down to the dance floor for the first dance. However because we are graced with a Conjoined Guest at this All-Princess Ball, they will have the first dance with one guest of their choice on the floor. Alone.”

Mermista could practically feel all the gasps and whispers happening throughout the hall, and then the eyes locked in on Lyn. She turned to Mermista and gave her a soft smile.

“Guess that’s my cue,” she began heading to the center of the floor that was cleared for her, “I’ll see you later Mermista.”

Mermista didn’t get the chance to say anything before Lyn reached the center of the dance floor. Frosta spoke again to Lyn, “Conjoined Guest, who will be your first dance partner and officially start the Ball?”

Lyn looked around, everyone staring at her. The tension in the air was palpable as they all eagerly awaited her decision. Then Lyn moved towards a person in the crowd, someone that Mermista couldn’t discern at first until she saw the long tendrils of purple hair. Lyn’s voice reverberated throughout the hall as she offered her hand towards the girl.

“Entrapta, may I have this dance?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boom! First work done. Thank you everyone who left kudos, comments, and reading. This is the first of three works that I have in mind for this work. This week will drop the first chapter of the next work. Thanks again, I love you all! <3

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Hopefully it wasn't that bad, I'd love to hear any thoughts you have about the story and how it is and where it can go. I have a sort of idea where to take it, but I'm happy to listen and change my outline.


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